Kazuyoshi Kumakiri

There's something quietly impressive about a guy who grows up in Obihiro — way out in the cold, wide-open flatlands of Hokkaido — and then hauls himself all the way to Osaka University of Arts to chase filmmaking seriously. Kazuyoshi Kumakiri is the kind of director who doesn't just call action and go home; he writes the script and then cuts the film himself too, which tells you everything about how obsessively he needs to control the final shape of what he's making. That triple role — director, writer, editor — is rare, and it's a very specific personality type: someone who has a complete vision in their head before a single frame rolls and refuses to let the assembly room dilute it. Born in 1974, he's been doing this long enough to have real craft built up behind the scenes, even if he's never been the kind of filmmaker who chases the spotlight. The fact that almost nothing about his private life is public feels intentional, like the work is the whole point. I respect that kind of low-ego seriousness.

Kazuyoshi Kumakiri is a Japanese film director, screenwriter, and film editor born on September 1, 1974, in Obihiro, Hokkaido. He studied at Osaka University of the Arts, where he developed his filmmaking craft. Known for taking a hands-on approach across multiple roles in production, he has worked as both a director and editor on his projects. He remains an active figure in Japanese independent cinema.

Name (English)

Kazuyoshi Kumakiri

Name (Japanese)

熊切和嘉

Reading

くまきり かずよし

Born

September 1, 1974 (age 51)

Zodiac / Chinese zodiac

Virgo / Tiger (寅)

Origin

Obihiro, Hokkaido, Japan

Occupation

Film Director / Screenwriter / Film Editor

High school

Hokkaido Obihiro Hakuyo High School

University

Osaka University of the Arts

Motto

Private

• Wikipedia (Japanese)https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E7%86%8A%E5%88%87%E5%92%8C%E5%98%89

Tags

• From Hokkaido
• Film Director
• Screenwriter
• Film Editor

Last updated

2026-06-02

Facts are limited to publicly available information up to 2024; non-public or unconfirmed items are omitted. English text is machine-assisted (facts translated by Sonnet, "My Take" written by Opus 4.8). The Japanese page is the source of record.